by David Climer, USA TODAY Sports

by David Climer, USA TODAY Sports

In a recent interview with the State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., Spurrier suggested that Saban has underachieved â?? yes, underachieved â?? during his tenure at Alabama. Given all the assets Saban has in Tuscaloosa that include a succession of highly ranked recruiting classes, Spurrier wondered aloud why Alabama hasn't won more SEC titles.

"How many SECs has he won there in eight years?" Spurrier said. "He's won two. He's won three nationals but he's only won two SECs in eight years. Now if you had the No. 1 recruiting class every year and so forth, I don't know if he has maxed out potentially as well as he could."

A couple of things: Saban has been Alabama's coach for seven years, not eight. And with all due respect to Spurrier, which would you rather win: the SEC championship or the national championship?

The biggest takeaway from this, though, is that Spurrier is feeling pretty good about his South Carolina team. Even with the losses of Jadeveon Clowney on defense and Connor Shaw on offense, Spurrier is bullish on his Gamecocks.

History tells us that the more confident Spurrier is about his own team, the more likely he is to fire verbal shots across the bows of rival programs.